Thursday, October 06, 2005

More On Time Magazine's Pet Jihadi

Earlier, I promised you more on one of Time magazine's "Generation Jihad" British Muslims, Sajid Sharif, alias Abu Uzair. Time reporter Bill Powell opined that Uzair, "...does not openly support terrorism...", and, "...tries to steer people away from drugs, drink, crime and smoking." Obviously, Uzair is just a harmless British eccentric with a Muslim flavor who enjoys clean living.

But Uzair has said some rather odd things while not openly supporting terrorism, and has somehow managed to embroil the BBC in a battle with the Crown over some videotapes of Uzair while he was not openly supporting terrorism.

Before we get into that, let's see just what Uzair had to say in that interview a couple of months ago:

"We don't live in peace with you any more. The banner has been risen for jihad inside the UK, which means it's allowed for the bombers to attack."

Asked if British citizens were targets, he said: "Yes, that's right," adding that he believed there were more cells in the UK. He refused to accept they were terrorist cells, preferring to call them "Muslim cells".

"I would never go to the police because I believe that spying on Muslims is never allowed. I am a British citizen but I am a Muslim first, a Muslim second and a Muslim last. Even if I am British, I don't follow the values of the UK - I follow the values of Islam."

Now, while this doesn't seem to have been enough to alarm Mr. Powell of Time, it has certainly caught the attention of the Crown Prosecution Service, which is demanding that the BBC turn over the unedited tapes of the interview that Uzair gave to NightNews (the quotes above are from that interview). The Crown seems to think there might be reason to prosecute Uzair (the Beeb, in its wisdom, is refusing to turn over the tapes without a fight).